D O C . 2 3 2 F O R E U R O P E A N U N D E R S T A N D I N G 3 9 3 Published in Verband 1927, pp. 9–19. Also published with minor differences in Berliner Tageblatt, 28 July 1926, EE, p. 3. [79 942]. [1]Dated by the spring equinox of 1926 on 21 March. [2]The association had emerged from the Interessengemeinschaft der europäischen Völker, which had been established in May 1924 by a group of German liberal and moderately left-wing parliamen- tarians, among them Paul Löbe of the SPD and Walther Schücking of the DDP. The founding of the Interessengemeinschaft had been the result of intense efforts for European reconciliation by the Polish-Jewish writer and activist Alfred Nossig. The Interessengemeinschaft changed its name to the Verband für europäische Verständigung in the spring of 1926 under the leadership of the DDP poli- ticians Wilhelm Heile and Schücking. It apparently first issued the appeal in the spring of 1926. The association’s goal was to enhance mutual understanding and foster cooperation among European par- liamentarians. The Verband was established as a rival to the pan-European movement, founded by Austrian political author Richard Nikolaus von Coudenhove-Kalergi in 1923, which advocated a united political entity in continental Europe (i.e., to the exclusion of Great Britain and the Soviet Union). In contrast, the supporters of the association opposed the “continental regionalization” of the League of Nations, as they feared it would lead to the League’s demise. A shorter appeal under the same title but with differing content had been published a few days earlier (see Berliner Tageblatt, 25 July 1926 Holl 1974, pp. 36, 44 Frommelt 1977, pp. 17 and 106 Orluc 2010, pp. 151–152). [3]On the Locarno Treaties, see Doc. 90, note 12. [4]On the crisis at the League of Nations in Geneva in March, see Doc. 220, note 7. [5]In addition to the German Verband, similar associations had been established in the spring of 1925 in Great Britain, France, and Poland. On 1 and 12 July 1926, representatives of all the associa- tions had met in London and Paris, respectively, at the initiative of Alfred Nossig. At the Paris meet- ing, the Féderation pour l’Entente européenne was established, under the presidency of Paul Painlevé (see Académie 1972, p. 339 Frommelt 1977, p. 22 and Pasture 2015, p. 115). [6]The Verband für internationale Verständigung was founded on 11 June 1911 in Frankfurt at the initiative of the German-Swiss jurist and pacifist Otfried Nippold and the Austrian-Jewish pacifist and writer Alfred Hermann Fried. It aimed to attract German scholars to join the international peace movement and to “spread understanding of the significance of mutually beneficial contacts among nations … especially an understanding of questions of international law” (see Chickering 1973, pp. 155–157). [7]The version published in Berliner Tageblatt also included the following sentence at the end of this paragraph: “Dem vorläufigen Vorstand gehören an: Prof. Schücking als Vorsitzender, Wilhelm Heile als geschäftsführender Stellvertreter des Vorsitzenden, ferner die Abgeordneten Prälat Kaas, Giesberts, Dr. Cremer, Bickes, Sollmann, Wissel, Nuschke und Frhr. v. Reibnitz.” [8]The Verband claimed the appeal had “been signed by more than 400 of the most prominent Ger- mans from politics, government, economy, science, and art” (“der von mehr als 400 der besten deut- schen Namen aus Politik, Verwaltung, Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und Kunst unterschrieben ist” see Berliner Tageblatt, 25 July 1926). The signatories included prominent politicians such as the German chancellor Wilhelm Marx, foreign minister Gustav Stresemann, minister of defense Otto Geßler, president of the Reichstag Paul Löbe, and former chancellors Joseph Wirth and Hans Luther. The appeal was also signed by Alfred Grotjahn, Gerhart Hauptmann, Paul Mamroth, and Ferdinand Tönnies (for their signatures, see Verband 1927, pp. 12–13, 15, and 18–19). According to a letter to the editor by the German economist Konrad Engelmann, Coudenhove- Kalergi accused Alfred Nossig of misusing the signatures of members of the Paneuropean Union, including those of Löbe, Einstein, and jurist Albrecht Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. According to Coudenhove’s declaration, “the relevant figures had, by means of their signatures, merely wanted to express their support for understanding but not their consent to new forms of organization” (“wonach die betreffenden Persönlichkeiten durch ihre Unterschrift lediglich ihren Willen zur Verständigung, nicht aber ihr Einverständnis zu neuen Organisationsformen geben wollten” see Vossische Zeitung, 15 August 1926).